Strength training with the new 3/7 method provides more muscle mass and strength than strength training in the traditional way. This is probably because the 3/7 method results in more metabolic stress, write Belgian scientists from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles in the European Journal of Applied Physiology.

Study
For 12 weeks, the researchers got 16 subjects to train their triceps twice a week with the 3/7 method. Another group of 15 test subjects trained the triceps twice a week for 12 weeks in the traditional way. They made 8 sets of 6 reps each.

With the 3/7 method you first make a set of 3 reps, and then you rest for 15 seconds. Then you make a set of 4 reps, and then you rest again for 15 seconds. Then you make a set of 5 reps, you take 15 seconds of rest, then you make a set of 6 reps, you rest for another 15 seconds, and then you conclude with a set of 7 reps.

After such a series you rest 2-3 minutes, and then you repeat the procedure.

You do all sets with the same load. That is about 70 percent of the weight with which you can just make 1 rep.

The test subjects in the 6X8 group trained with the same load as the test subjects in the 3/7 group. In the 6X8 group, the test subjects took 2 minutes of rest between sets.

The subjects in both groups had not done any strength training in the six months preceding the study.

Results
Both groups gained muscle mass and strength, but the progression in the 3/7 group was more convincing than in the 8X6 group.

Mechanism

The researchers think that the 3/7 method leads to greater metabolic stress in the muscles than the 6X8 method.

Making ever more intensive sets, with a particularly short rest period between sets, results in more lactic acid and a greater oxygen debt than with the regular method, while the mechanical stress is about the same. Therefore the growth stimulus is greater than with the 8X6 method.